Google Dancin'

Blogging For Fun And Profit - Simpleology Course

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 06:56:00 +0000

Have you heard of Simpleology? Maybe you've heard of Mark Joyner?

Well, if you haven't, you're in for a treat. Mark has been involved in Marketing via the internet as long as, if not longer than, any other Internet Marketer worth his/her salt. Mark is small on hype, and big on value. So...

I'm evaluating a multi-media course on blogging from the folks at Simpleology. For a while, they're letting you snag it for free if you post about it on your blog.

It covers:

The best blogging techniques.
How to get traffic to your blog.
How to turn your blog into money.

I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to check it out. Meanwhile, go grab yours while it's still free.

Then meet me here, if you'd like, for an honest discussion of what's right--and what's wrong--with Simpleology's foray into blogger training.

"Build It And They Will Come"

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 10:31:00 +0000

A line straight out of the delightful Kevin Costner film, "Field of Dreams", just doesn't apply in the online world. Or does it?

I can't begin to count the number of times I have seen the line quoted, by experts and novices alike, as they point out such a thing only happens in the movies. Having built and marketed web sites since the mid-1990's, I tend to agree.

So imagine my surprise when I found a site I had yet to develop had received five orders over the summer!

Let's back up a bit. Nearly two years ago, I decided to sell a product I loved, but couldn't seem to find from anyone but the manufacturer (who was only selling the product wholesale at the time.) I purchase several cases of the product wholesale, created business card magnets at VistaPrint, and set up an osCommerce install on the new domain. I put up a splash page saying "future home of..." and then started to work on developing my new site.

Shortly after that, I found out I had to have cataract surgery in both eyes.

I had the surgeries, about two weeks apart, and found I was unable to complete any web site work during the recovery period. Staring at the computer monitor was downright painful, especially between surgeries! By the time I was able to work again, I was behind on my obligations. My new web site had to go on the back burner.

Fast-forward to September this year. After having issues with my dedicated server, I upgraded my host managing software to the latest version. While cleaning up the inevitable loose ends, I discovered several emails for this web site I had never finished developing, including the five orders.

I built it. They came. They bought the product.

Does that prove we've been wrong all this time? I don't think so. What I believe this does prove is the right product, with limited availability, will sell itself. With no page rank and only one IBL, (that I know of,) I'm getting traffic from organic search results. And sales.

What is it? Simply Silk™, an organic silk plant cleaner. Simply Silk is superior to any other brand I've ever tried, and apparently a lot of other folks feel the same way. (The product description for the 32 oz. bottle was "yada", I kid you not.) Needless to say, I went in and fixed up the site.

If you want to get an idea of what it looked like "before", check out the demo of osCommerce. The "after" is a much abbreviated site that only sells Simply Silk, Silk Plant Cleaner.

Money Back Guarantee...

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 06:08:00 +0000

...No questions asked. The authors of Membership Superstars were true to their word.

There was a little glitch, however. I had to ask twice!

I had received a welcome letter, so to request my refund I simply hit the "reply" button in my email program. That request was returned with the failure notice "Sorry, no mailbox here by that name."

I'd like to think it was an oversight, and the email address now exists. Still, it did leave me wondering if I'd made a big mistake trusting these guys in the first place.

Not to worry. I found another address with the email payment receipt. I re-sent my original request to the new address and within 24 hours I received a Refund Confirmation from ClickBank.

The product may not be right for me, but it appears the guys behind it are trustworthy.

Buyer Beware: "Membership Superstars" Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 23:44:00 +0000

I am so disappointed!

I just pulled out my credit card for a $97 set of videos called Membership Superstars. (There's a limited time offer of $50 off, so I only paid $47, but it may be full price by the time you read this post.) The promise is to give you the nitty-gritty details of how to do membership sites right, and make lots of money at it.

I've been wanting to do a membership site for 2-3 years, but haven't had the time to develop it using a CMS (content management system) product. I figured these videos would have a specific software program in mind, but I wasn't expecting what I got.

These videos are essentially a tutorial for using a specific product. A product which is only available if you sign up for a monthly service. A monthly service from the guy selling the videos, (of course.)

The real problem with this is the membership software is not available as a standalone product. It's bundled into a high end package consisting of a collection of software products designed to help you with your ecommerce site.

There are three packages available, but the least expensive package doesn't include the membership software. In order to access the membership software the tutorial is for, it will cost a minimum of $99.95 each and every month! That's more than I pay for my dedicated server!

I guess my age is showing. I still think of $100 as being a healthy chunk of change. But then, I can remember when a candy bar cost a nickel and a popsicle was 7 cents. My first minimum wage job paid $1.80 an hour...

Anyway, if you are interested in doing membership sites and you don't have a problem with paying for the tutorial plus $100 a month for the suite of services, over and above your hosting fees, this may be the program for you. If so, you can access the sales page here: Membership Superstars. (This is not an affiliate link.) On the other hand, if you're not up for the additional monthly charges, don't waste your time and money buying the videos.

My next step? I'm going to take them up on their "100% Risk Free On My Dime Guarantee" and ask for my money back.

I'll let you know how that turns out.

Letter to BlogRush Members From John Reese

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:33:00 +0000

Last night, members of BlogRush received the following letter from John Reese, the brains behind this great new service. He gave his permission to post the complete letter on member blogs, so here it is.

I think once you see how committed John is to building a reputable, useful, traffic generating service, you will be convinced to sign up for BlogRush too.

TO: All BlogRush Members
FROM: John Reese, Founder of BlogRush

ARE YOU READY? Because *everything* is about to change. Forget everything else up until now...

PREPARE FOR *BIG* CHANGES! (TWO MAJOR CHANGES ARE NOW LIVE.)

BlogRush CAN'T EXIST if we're not sending you a lot of ongoing, targeted traffic. We fully recognize this and that's why this is our ONLY FOCUS.

The BlogRush team has been hard at work making major improvements for you and we won't rest until BlogRush is running 100% smoothly and sending you tons of targeted traffic! This is OUR MISSION. Please know that our entire team is working around-the-clock to make improvements and fix any problems AS FAST AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE.

(We sincerely appreciate your patience.)

We've encountered some problems since our historic launch just over a week ago, and we fully recognize that we've made some real 'goofs' with the system for our Public Beta release...

For example, our data center provider (one of the largest in the world) had a short, temporary outage (they had to replace a network switch) two days after our launch. We had no control over this outage but want to SINCERELY APOLOGIZE to those that saw this message on their blogs (where the widget should have been):

"We are currently experiencing some technical issues and the site will be back online shortly. Please come back in a few minutes."

We were completely *EMBARRASSED* when we realized this happened. That simple message was part of our application code and was meant to appear only on *OUR* WEB SITE PAGES if we ever experienced an outage. This was accidentally 'marked' to be a global error message for ANY outage -- including if our widget ever had a problem loading. This was a major GOOF and we're willing to admit it. Our code was planned so that in the case of a problem with our widget, NOTHING WOULD LOAD in its place. So a visitor to your blog doesn't see an error or anything wrong should the widget ever have any technical issues.

This was quickly corrected and is now working properly. Should the widget ever have any problem loading in the future, your blog will be served a transparent space (which will show whatever background your blog design has) and your blog readers won't really notice anything.

Again, our sincere apologies for our major goof. It was quite embarrassing.

NOW ONTO SOME SERIOUS ISSUES...

We also realize that we completely underestimated the number of unethical people that would sign up and proceed to CHEAT and try to 'game' the BlogRush system. These cheaters ruined the click-rates of many of our members (and burned through a lot of their credits using automated 'exploit' methods) and hurt BlogRush's ability to send maximum traffic to our honest members' blogs.

BUT ALL OF THAT IS ABOUT TO BE ERASED... LIKE IT NEVER HAPPENED.

In the next several days to come, we're going to be rolling out MAJOR changes to BlogRush. BIG changes. And these changes (again) have just ONE primary purpose -- to drive more ongoing, targeted traffic to your blog.

We've listened to your valued feedback and constructive criticism and we have been working in TURBO MODE to make the changes you want ASAP...

----- HERE'S WHAT'S COMING IN THE NEXT 48 HOURS -----

100% MANUAL BLOG REVIEW.

Our team is going to be manually reviewing every single new blog that registers to participate in the BlogRush Network.

We'll be applying some quality guidelines and criteria to our decision-making process. (We'll be publishing these guidelines very soon.) If a blog does not meet our guidelines and criteria, THEY WILL BE REJECTED from the network and not allowed to join -- i.e. they won't be able to serve our widget, refer other users, or have their blog posts distributed across our network. They will have no access to any BlogRush services.

Our members, like YOU, made it LOUD AND CLEAR to us... BlogRush needs to only have members that have quality blog content -- not blogs filled primarily with ads and other spammy looking JUNK.

The only accurate way we're going to keep these junk blogs out of our network is to REVIEW EVERY SINGLE ONE BY HAND. And we're willing to do it to protect the integrity of our network. I don't care what it costs us to hire more people (if we need them) to review 100% of any blog trying to join our network. We will be reviewing ALL OF THEM from here on out.

* We realize that several non-English language blogs blatantly ignored our "ENGLISH BLOGS ONLY" warning on our Registration page. Rest assured, though, they'll all be PURGED from the network when we do our QUALITY CONTROL AUDIT over the next several days (you'll read about it in a moment).

As I've said several times before, BlogRush isn't some passing "fad" or short-term service. We're dedicated to building an incredibly valuable resources for bloggers FOR MANY YEARS TO COME.

We'll also be doing a QUALITY CONTROL AUDIT of all of our existing member blogs. We'll be reviewing every single blog that's currently in our network (or that registers before the Manual Review Process becomes active.) And we'll be completely *REMOVING* any blogs in our network that don't meet our quality guidelines and criteria.

As you can probably tell by now, we're not messing around. We have put a lot of hard work into the development of this service and we will continue to bust our butts to make it one of the best Internet services in the world. COUNT ON IT.

We're also deploying several new Anti-Cheat measures to SHUTDOWN AND WIPEOUT the cheaters and unethical users that have abused our network. Sorry, crooks, but THE FREE RIDE IS OVER.

We'll be dedicating an entire department to stay on top of any abusive behavior in our network. We believe that our new measures are going to instantly eliminate most, if not all, of our system abuse. It's going to take us a few more days to roll-out all of these measures (and to complete our entire QUALITY CONTROL AUDIT) but rest assured, BlogRush is about to go through a major TRANSFORMATION.

And a quick word to any 'cheats' that might be reading this letter... it's very possible that you may come up with something extremely creative that temporarily gets by us, but you should know something... IT'S NOT GOING TO BE WORTH YOUR TIME. And I'm not just talking about the tiny amount of traffic that you'll receive before we shut you off.

You see, we have other plans in the works...

If you attempt to cheat or abuse our network in anyway, shape, or form, we will not hesitate to come after you. Our company is well funded and has plenty of resources. And we WILL use them to punish you to the fullest extent of the law (and civil court process). Oh, you think you can just hide behind some anonymous proxy IPs? Sorry, it's not that easy. ANY reason you'd have to try and cheat the BlogRush network for traffic and any attempt you make to monetize that traffic will lead directly to your front door -- whether it's AdSense, any affiliate program in the world, any online pharmacy, porn site, casino... ANYTHING. We will follow the trail and it WILL eventually lead to you.

Our hard-working company provides the income for MANY families. As the CEO of our company, I take this very seriously. I HAVE TO. People that attempt to abuse or cheat BlogRush are affecting the livelihood of all my employees and their families. And I will do everything in my power to protect them -- it's MY DUTY.

So for all you cheaters that joined BlogRush and had your fun trying to siphon off some traffic, hopefully it was fun. And I'll go ahead and make this statement right now... IF you were one of the people that has been cheating our network I'm going to give you ONE opportunity... quit now and we'll pretend it never happened. I think that's more than fair.

BUT... if you continue after this point, all bets are off. We WILL eventually discover what you're doing, where you're trying to send traffic, and we will prosecute you. I GUARANTEE IT. Sorry, but WE HAVE NO CHOICE NOW.

* If you're one of our valued, HONEST users, I'm very sorry you even have to read stuff like that. I know it's a waste of your time. Unfortunately, there are unethical people in this world that attempt to abuse and take advantage of others.

MOVING ON...

---- ALSO COMING SOON! ----

**** A LOT MORE CATEGORIES! ****

You asked for it, and you're getting it!

We're going to be greatly expanding our directory of categories to increase the relevancy of post links appearing in the widget on your blog -- this will also increase click-rates (and traffic) for all members.

* Stay tuned over the next several days for more news about the addition of new categories.

AND...

**** IMPROVED REPORTING! ****

The current Dashboard stats are being under-reported for all users right now. This is the reason that users show discrepancies when looking at Google Analytics data (or other stats packages). We're currently sending more traffic to our users than we're reporting in the Dashboard because we are giving all users bonus credits everyday. We'll soon be reporting all bonus credit activity so all the numbers will be accurate.

SPECIAL NOTE TO ALL LOW-TRAFFIC MEMBERS: In the near future we'll be giving our low-traffic members (those that need more traffic the most) the BULK of our bonus credit allocations. You'll get a ton more bonus credits than high-traffic members because you really need it. It's only FAIR!

* Also we apologize to anyone that has seen a "negative" credit balance for their account. This is a minor bug that we're taking care of. It doesn't mean anything and you can just ignore it for now. We apologize for any confusion.

**** IMPROVED NETWORK DISTRIBUTION ****

A few of our users have noticed that they're building up credits faster than the system is using them. This will eventually balance itself out as the network continues to "adjust" to the growth levels and traffic patterns of each category -- because our network provides syndication distribution based on daily average "cycles" and then adjusts moving into the future; so it's able to accurately predict how fast to use a certain user's credits, etc. -- as compared to just using them all "as fast as possible."

---- AND HERE ARE *TWO* BRAND-NEW ADDITIONS THAT JUST WENT LIVE!!!! ----

**** BLOGRUSH "FLAVORS" ARE NOW ACTIVE!

You can go login to your account, click the "Settings" tab and then select "Flavors."

You can choose from (13) different widget colors. You no longer have to only use our original "black" widget design that many users thought was ugly! (Hey, just don't let our lead designer hear that... he thought his black design was "really cool.")

Now you can select a color that more closely matches the look of your blog. Our users have been asking for this since we launched our Public Beta, and we've taken action to offer these new options.

* We have future plans for further widget customization but we're working on one "stage" of improvement at a time! Please bare with us. We're fully aware of the request for a more narrow widget as our current one doesn't fit on some blogs. We're trying to produce a solution and should have some news soon.

HERE'S THE BEST PART...

You don't have to copy and paste new code to your blog. Just go to that "Flavors" section for your account, select the flavor you want, then hit the "APPLY FLAVOR" button. That's it! Reload your blog in another browser window and take a look.

And if you want to see what a different flavor might look like, just pick another one, hit the "APPLY FLAVOR" button and reload your blog. PRESTO! :-)

AND LAST BUT CERTAINLY NOT LEAST...

***** BLOG POST CONTROLS *****

Under the "Settings" tab you'll also find a new option called, "My Post Control." Here's what this awesome new feature does...

You can create POST FILTERS for your blog posts...

For example, you can add a keyword or phrase and create a new post filter. If you ever create a post on your blog (while you have that filter active -- and you can add/delete them at anytime) that contains one of those keywords in the TITLE of your blog post, that post...

WILL *NOT* BE SHOWN ACROSS THE NETWORK. And you won't use any of your syndication credits!

All bloggers post "off-topic" stuff from time to time, or short posts that don't have a ton of great content. Well, now you can easily keep any of those types of posts from using your valuable syndication credits and from being shown across the network!

This is GREAT for you because now you can control exactly which posts of yours will be syndicated. This can help you maximize your CLICK-RATES and, ultimately, the traffic you receive from the BlogRush network. AND it can help retain NEW READERS for your blog (your ultimate goal that can grow your blog's traffic on a day-to-day basis.)

Here's Why...

By selecting which posts get syndicated (by simply adding filters right BEFORE you publish a post on your blog that you don't want to be used; or having setup one well in advance) you can make sure that you're only syndicating your BEST POSTS. The ones with top-quality content. Your posts that a new visitor to your blog will enjoy and be much more likely to make a "YES!" decision to become a regular reader for you!

AND OH YEAH, ONE MORE THING...

This is only the very beginning for BlogRush. We have so much great stuff in store for you! As I said at the beginning of this letter... we will continue to work VERY HARD to make improvements and add-ons with ONE PRIMARY FOCUS...

To drive more ongoing targeted traffic to your blog.

I want to personally THANK YOU on behalf of our entire company for your interest in BlogRush. We've received a lot of criticism from many bloggers on the Internet, and we'll be the first to admit we're not perfect and a lot of it was WELL-DESERVED.

But please know, we're busy working around the clock FOR YOU. You have our word on it.

Now go login to your account and try out some of the new "Flavors" for your blog! And also start setting up some Post Control Filters so you can start maximizing your content syndication.

I'll be in touch when I have more "news" to share. Thanks for reading this long letter. I had a lot to tell you about. :-)

Best Regards,

John Reese, Founder of BlogRush

Wow! What a guy! I've always like John, but I'm just blown away by his total commitment to creating a great service that will stand the test of time.

Thanks John.

Want to join now? Click here to sign up for BlogRush.

BlogRush Debate: What Will Google Think?

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 23:35:00 +0000

BlogRush has taken the blogging community by storm. Still in beta release, it looks like John Reese has taken a page straight from Google's own play book: Make it available in it's infancy as a beta, then let the users' feedback shape the direction the service evolves.

There is a lot of "press" on this service. Folks who've already signed up are reviewing the service, and encouraging their readers to sign up.

I did a Google search for "blogrush" and "cutts" and found a post by Googler Matt Cutts (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/lots-o-news/) where in the comments Matt is asked "Do you have any thoughts on BlogRush?"

Matt's answer? "I haven't had a chance to dig into it yet. It sounds like the widget uses JavaScript, so it wouldn't flow PageRank. That sounded pretty good to me."

But there are nay-sayers as well. Over at blog.webmasterforumph.com, teejay posted "BlogRush Against Adsense Terms of Service".

Teejay points out that some bloggers are wary of using BlogRush for fear it is against the Google AdSense TOS, and then quotes the Inside AdSense blog post on Traffic Exchanges, where Google makes it clear their policies "strictly prohibit any means of artificially generating ad impressions or clicks, including third-party services such as paid-to-click, paid-to-surf, auto-surf, and click-exchange programs."

The Google AdSense Program Policies state: "Clicks on Google ads must result from genuine user interest. Any method that artificially generates clicks or impressions on your Google ads is strictly prohibited. These prohibited methods include but are not limited to repeated manual clicks or impressions, using robots, automated click and impression generating tools, third-party services that generate clicks or impressions such as paid-to-click, paid-to-surf, autosurf, and click-exchange programs, or any deceptive software." (Emphasis is mine.)

The AdSense blog post explains the reason behind the prohibition: "These programs offer incentives for users to view web pages or click on ads, resulting in activity that is harmful to our advertisers."

This clearly states it's the offered "incentives" of the prohibited services that lead to invalid clicks or page impressions. And that would imply a traffic exchange service without any such incentives would not artificially generate ad clicks or page impressions.

Based on what I've read, published by Google, it is my opinion that BlogRush--in and of itself--will not hurt your standings as an AdSense Publisher. BlogRush provides a real service to your site visitor by offering a few topically related links to other blog posts. So, if your blog doesn't violate the Google AdSense Program Policies without the BlogRush widget, it shouldn't violate them with it.

Go to the BlogRush site now for more information, or to sign up for this free service.

Get Clear.

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Thu, 14 Jul 2005 06:14:00 +0000

Designing, building and maintaining a website is a lot of work. And there are expenses involved.

At the very least, you must pay registration fees for you domain name. Free hosting is available, but not viable for a serious commercial website.

If you can't do the work yourself, due to lack of ability or lack of time, there is the added expense of paying someone else to do the work for you.

Be it time or money, the more your site costs you, the more important it is the site provides a Return On Investment (ROI).

No matter what ROI means to you it should translate into increased profits, sooner or later, directly or indirectly.

To do that, you must determine two things:

What you want from your website and to that end
What you need your visitors to do.

You must "get clear" on what you expect from your site in order to present a clear call to action that will benefit both you and your visitor.

Make It Readable.

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Wed, 13 Jul 2005 05:02:00 +0000

For the most part, we have been discussing ways to get and improve your website's visibility on the internet. But getting qualified visitors is only a part of the equation.

Numerous studies have been done over the years, and they've all come to the same conclusion: Visitors are impatient. You have only a few seconds to persuade them they're at the right website. Otherwise, they go back to the search results and try another link.

These studies also show that most visitors will scan the page to determine if they want to stay or look elsewhere.

If each page of your site is highly focused on one concept, the information the visitor is looking for is probably there. But will he find it?

Tweak Your Content For Easy Scanning.

Lots of long paragraphs may work well for an article in a traditional magazine, but they don't work on a computer monitor.

Break long paragraphs into smaller ones.
Convert a paragraph into a bulleted list, if possible.
Create a bold subheading from a short first sentence.
Highlight an important point with a border and colored background.

Make it easy to determine the page's relevancy with a quick scan of the page.

Google Toolbar For Firefox

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Tue, 12 Jul 2005 04:31:00 +0000

In an earlier article about PageRank, I stated that the Google Toolbar was only available for Internet Explorer for Windows. That has recently changed and a beta version of the Toolbar is now available for the upstart browser Firefox. However, it won't work on computers that are still running Windows 98. In fact, it won't run on Windows XP either, if you haven't updated to the latest service pack.

System requirements:
Windows XP/2000 SP3+, Mac OS X 10.2+, or Red Hat Linux 8.0+ as your operating system. Firefox 1.0 or later

If you're a Firefox fan like me, you can install the Toolbar to your computer directly from Google. Just surf to Google's Options page and click on Toolbar under Google Tools at the bottom of the page. Google will detect your browser and send you directly to the correct download page.

Click on the Download Google Toolbar button, read and accept the terms and conditions, and the Toolbar will be installed automatically. (Provided, of course, your operating system is one of those listed above.)

The new Google Toolbar for Firefox offers all the functionality of the original, including the PageRank Display. I'd like to remind my readers not to get caught up in PageRank Obsession. Use the display simply as one of several tools to help determine if a website is safe to link to.

By the way, if your operating system isn't supported by the official Google Toolbar, you can still install the Googlebar, an open source toolbar for Firefox that emulates the search functionality of the Toolbar. The Googlebar does not include PageRank Display.

Using Other People's Content

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Sat, 09 Jul 2005 06:10:00 +0000

You can also add value to your site using content from other sources.

Many good articles are available, both free and for a fee, that can be published on your site. Of course, you will need to credit the author, and in most cases provide a link back to the author's web site. Be sure and only use articles that are appropriate to your niche.

You can also add content by using RSS feeds. Set up correctly, you can display current news on your site that's relevant to the focus of your site.

Never use someone else's work without their permission.

That should go without saying, yet it is staggering how many sites "borrow" content from other sites. Don't be one of them. At best, it will have a negative effect on your credibility. At worst, it could end you up in legal hot water.

Creating Your Own Content

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 05:57:00 +0000

It takes a commitment of time and resources to create content regularly. And it helps to have a few old-fashioned tools: a small, portable notebook and a pen or pencil. A personal recorder could come in handy, too.

In the notebook, start a list of ideas for new pages within your niche: Books or products to review, Questions that haven't been answered, Professional opinions, etc. Keep the notebook handy so you can add to the list, or write down your thoughts when inspiration strikes.

I recommend starting with a book or product review. It doesn't have to be long to be useful, and it's relatively easy to write. Just keep it objective, and don't try to sell yourself or your service/product in the review.

Write like you talk. Let your personality shine through and your visitors will come to feel like they know you, which will build trust and credibility.

If you have trouble writing, try talking into a recorder as if you were talking to a good friend. Transcribe your comments, then use those comments as your starting point. Just polish and publish.

Like anything else the more you write content, the easier it becomes.

The 3 Cs Of A Successful Website

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Thu, 07 Jul 2005 06:41:00 +0000

Content. Content. And Content!

Okay. That's not quite right. It's actually "Good Content" x 3, but that doesn't make for a catchy title.

If you want your site to be successful, you must have good content and lots of it. Ideally, you will add one page of unique content every day. That means writing your own articles, book reviews, blog entries, etc. Easier said than done, I know.

Especially if yours is a one-man operation.

It ain't easy running an offline business, and finding the time to create new content every day. After all, you need to eat and sleep, too.

However, it's not possible to over stress the importance of unique and fresh content. It's what sets you apart from your competition. It's what keeps visitors on your site, and what keeps them coming back. And it helps the search engines to send you those visitors.

It may be more realistic for you to add new unique content weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Once you have determined the best frequency for your schedule, mark it on your calendar. Then make a commitment to meet your own deadlines.

Cough Drops, Anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Wed, 06 Jul 2005 06:20:00 +0000

A Summer cold can really interfere with ones schedule. Somehow it's easier, emotionally, to be ill when the weather is lousy and the sun sets before the evening rush hour.

So the weather here in the Willamette Valley is finally turning warm and sunny, and I have no desire to go out and enjoy it. My virus enforced hiatus behind me, it's time to get back to work.

My husband spent last night flipping back and forth between three stations airing 4th of July celebrations. He was most impressed with the fireworks display put on by Macy's in New York City.

And it was impressive! Fireworks were shot off from three separate ships in the harbor. They started off with a display that would rival many smaller celebrations' big finale. In fact, the entire show was phenomenal. I would have loved to have been there. I envy those who were.

The folks who produced that show really know how to please their audience. There wasn't time to get bored, or think about leaving. I don't imagine anyone left early. Or disappointed.

Don't you wish you could say the same for your site's visitors?

While no one can please "all the people all of the time", you'll see more visitors sticking around if you keep your focus tight. The sharper the focus, the higher the number of visitors who'll find exactly what they're looking for.

Introducing: Jill Whalen

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 18:48:00 +0000

I'd like to introduce you to Jill Whalen, her website HighRankings.com, and the HighRankings.com Forum.

Jill's been in this business about 10 years. She's been my mentor, virtually, for the past several years through her regular newsletters.

I have learned a lot from Jill in that time, and I've had my own internet marketing philosophy validated. We both teach (preach?) that it's the content on your site that's important, and to forget the quick fix tricks as they will bite you in the end. (pun intended.)

Interestingly enough, the day after my post about Google's sandbox, Jill's newsletter arrived. Her featured article was about Google's patent application and it's implications for web site owners. In it she sets the record straight. There is more to the Google sandbox than just an aging delay.

"The aging delay ...is actually a subset of the sandbox. In other words, the aging delay is just *one* reason why a URL might get placed in the sandbox."

If you just opened a new web site, it will go into the sandbox. Period. The length of time it remains is affected by what you do once you go live. (Adding new content, getting quality links, etc.) Some site owners have reported showing up in the search results as soon as six months. Others have stayed in the sandbox for a year, or more. Jill says the average is currently around 9 months.

If you have had your site up for years, however, you can still find yourself in the sandbox if you use "black hat SEO" techniques to artificially influence your site's position in the search results. Google takes such search engine spam very seriously. Simply put, don't spam the search engines!

"I cannot stress enough that the ideas in this patent have been put forth as spam fighting measures. Unfortunately, as soon as the search engines start giving things like links any kind of prominence in their ranking algorithm, they get abused by those whose only goal is to "game" the engines." ~ Jill Whalen

Be sure and read Jill's full article, "Google's Patent Implications". And while you're there, bookmark the forum address and sign up for her newsletter. Both will be invaluable resources for you.

Play Time in the Sandbox

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 06:13:00 +0000

By now, you've probably heard about Google's "sandbox."

Google isn't talkin', but word on the forums is Google puts all new sites in the sandbox. Being in the sandbox means Google's search results won't include your site in any of the coveted top positions, regardless of how relevant. Except, perhaps, for some really obscure terms.

What is commonly called the sandbox is Google's aging delay. While Google isn't giving out the details, their recent patent application gives us a glimpse into their mindset. Their algorithm takes a variety of age related factors into consideration for both your site and sites linking to you.

The reasoning behind an aging delay makes total sense for the big picture. It's there to fight the dirty tactics of spam sites. It can be very frustrating, however, to the owners of the sites affected as they wait months to show up in Google's results.

There's nothing you can do to prevent it, but you can use this time to your advantage.

Work on creating new content for your site. Write interesting articles within your niche and submit them to sites that accept and distribute articles. Join relevant forums and news groups, and become an active member of these communities. Continue to follow your link building strategy of asking for links from other related sites and directories.

Your efforts will pay off in the end, and you'll develop good site/traffic building habits. And though it may take Google months to rank your site appropriately, you'll soon show up in Yahoo and the other search engines.

Google's Catch 22

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 06:18:00 +0000

As a search engine, Google wants to serve up the most relevant results for every search query. As an advertiser, Google wants to display their ads in as many relevant areas as possible.

First, they came out with AdWords, a pay-per-click program that displayed relevant ads in a column to the right of their own search results. Then they came out with AdSense, which allowed content rich web sites to display AdWords advertising.

It is AdSense that has put Google in the catch 22.

Anyone can apply to the AdSense program. Google screens applicants based on the web site submitted with the application.

Once approved, however, the AdSense account holder can then place the ads on any site without having to have each site approved. This has led to a flood of new sites developed for the sole purpose of displaying these ads. (Which, by the way, is in direct violation of the Adsense Terms of Service for the program.)

These sites have no value to the searcher, but have highly optimized pages for popular search terms. Which leaves Google faced with the daunting task of filtering these pages out of their search results.

The hundreds of thousands of sites that exist for the sole purpose of displaying Google's AdSense advertising are cluttering up the internet. They make more work for all the search engines to develop ways to filter them out of the results, including Google. And legitimate sites are hurt by lower search rank, or worse, being penalized by the latest algorithm to combat this abuse.

Google could put a stop to these sites. First, and foremost, Google could enforce the existing Terms of Service, and terminate AdSense accounts which violate these terms. They could take it a step further and require the account holder to pre-qualify every website before allowing the AdSense code to be used on that site.

If Google succeeds in ridding the internet of these AdSense violators and their sites, results from all the search engines will improve. As an added benefit to Google, click fraud should become all but non-existent, too.

Speaking of Domain Names

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 06:38:00 +0000

Have you gotten suckered into the concept of creating numerous web sites that all link back to your main site? The only winner there is the company you register your domains with.

Here's Why.

If you don't have good content on each of these other sites, you won't pull in enough traffic to justify the cost of hosting the site. And if you do have good content, it will serve you better on your main site.

Look at it like this: First, you create a satellite site, keeping the focus tight on one aspect of your business. Then you start getting traffic to the satellite site, and have a high 5% conversion rate (5% of your visitors click on a link to the main site). Not too bad.

Now lets say your main site converts 3% of your visitors to clients. With these conversion rates, your satellite site would need to pull in 2000 visitors for your main site to acquire 3 new clients.

However, if you put those same pages on your main site instead, you'd get 100% of those visitors to your main site. With a conversion rate of 3%, 2000 visitors would mean 60 clients. Or, more realistically, you would acquire 3 new clients much faster.

On the other hand, if you still want to register a boat load of domain names, I have a reseller account that pays me a paltry sum for every domain you register. If you insist on throwing away your money, you're welcome to throw some of it in my direction.
Anita's Domain Registrations

Spammers & Multiple Domain Names.

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 05:43:00 +0000

It wasn't all that long ago parking multiple domains wouldn't get you a penalty with Google. It was possible you'd find the wrong domain was getting all the attention, but the search engines would simply see "duplicate content" in the additional domains and essentially ignore them.

Then along came the "Get Rich Quick" crowd. They abused everything from the Meta keywords tag to Javascript redirects to the noframes html tag. As the abuse of a technique became epidemic, the search engines would rewrite the algorithms. Eventually the technique would be ignored, or worse, penalized.

One of the techniques now in use is to set up a temporary redirect: The search engines still spider the content of the page and make it available in the search results.

You've seen it. You click on a result that looks promising and find yourself on a page that is nothing at all what you were expecting. You can't find the exact phrase returned by the search engine, even when you look at the source code for the page you landed on.

You don't want Google, or any other search engine, to lump your site in with these bad guys.!

To park a domain without incurring a penalty, a permanent 301 redirect must be set up. There is very specific code that must be used, which is beyond the scope of this blog.

However, here are some links that may supply you with the information you need if you have to do the work yourself. For a Linux/Apache server, add the code in the .htaccess file:

There are a few more hoops to jump through if your site is hosted on a Windows IIS server. Here's a few answers to get you started:

If you don't feel comfortable with coding, see if your ISP will do the work. Their network guy does this sort of thing for a living, and is less likely to make a mistake.

Of course, the easiest thing to do is avoid multiple domain names altogether.

Getting in Trouble With Multiple Domain Names.

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 19:37:00 +0000

Are you one of those folks who licensed the .com, .org and .net versions of your domain name? Do you realize if it isn't set it up correctly, redirecting traffic from these domains could get you in trouble with Google and the other search engines?

Like so many things in this industry, search engine spammers have found many ways to exploit redirects. The search engines, understandably, have adjusted their algorithms to compensate for the abuse.

Unfortunately, a lot of good people get burned in the process.

There is a right way and a wrong way to set up a redirect for multiple domains to the same web site. If you have one or more domains parked on top of your primary domain, you can easily test to see if they are set up correctly.

While online, simply type the URL of the secondary domain name into the address bar of your browser and hit enter. Your web site will show up in your browser. Now check the address bar.

You should see your primary domain listed, not the secondary domain you typed in.

For example, if you type in "bergieszoo.net" and hit enter, you will be taken to my photography site. You will also see the address change from "bergieszoo.net" to "http://www.callofthewildphoto.com".

When you test your domains, if you don't see the URL change to the primary domain name, you could have a problem that will hurt your credibility with the search engines.

Good Content as a Linking Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Sat, 11 Jun 2005 05:50:00 +0000

I'm a big Kevin Costner fan. One of the many reasons, and perhaps the most compelling one at that, is he always takes the time needed to tell the story. I've never walked away from the theater feeling short-changed, or full of unanswered questions because important scenes were chopped out to shorten the movie.

Your web pages should be like that. Whether you're telling a story, or selling a product, your words are what count. No amount of fancy, expensive web design will make up for a lack of substance on the page.

While working for an ISP that also provided web design services, I saw one web site after another fall short of its potential. I also saw sites that performed better than anyone ever thought possible. And every time, good or bad, the site's performance could be traced back to the level of commitment the site's owner had to providing great content.

Make a commitment to create well written, unique and highly focused information for your site. You don't have to do it all at once. In fact, it's better if you update one page at a time.

Create an environment full of interesting and valuable information within your industry. Showcase your expertise.

It will take time, but your hard work will be rewarded with incoming one-way links from related sites wanting to provide added value to their visitors.

As an added bonus, your position in search engine results will improve, too.

Stripped & Exposed

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 18:44:00 +0000

Another way to determine if you have good content is to look at the page without the design elements.

I've exposed just the textual content of this sample page, including the alternate (alt) text for images. By removing the reference to the external CSS files used to control the layout and the URL's of the images, I've stripped the design elements from the page.

Reading a page this way, the message should flow, and it should make sense.

Even more importantly, the message should add value to your visitor's experience.

Good content doesn't necessarily need to be "good English", good adcopy can and does break the rules ("Got Milk?") But your spelling should be correct, and the style should fit your target audience. The focus should be on only one concept.

The content should be able to stand on its own, without the design. It should not be hard to read, or stuffed with keywords that interrupt the flow.

Stripping a page of design elements is not as easy as creating it first and then adding the design, especially if you're still using nested tables to control the layout. However, if you're creating new pages, it's easy to use a "design free" environment to develop the content first.

Your message will standout without the distraction of the images and layout. Parts that are unclear or weak will be more visible to you, making it easier to refine and strengthen your message.

You'll also see how the alt text is adding to, or subtracting from, your message.

For example, at the bottom of the sample page, you will see this statement: "We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover Card." That statement is actually the combined alt text of the four images of the credit cards listed.

The example page was created from this commercial photography page. You'll find the four credit card images in the sidebar to the left of the page.

A Question of Value.

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Thu, 09 Jun 2005 04:49:00 +0000

Let's take a break from linking strategies, and talk about content.

What is content? Content is just about anything and everything you can put on your web site: graphics, photos, headlines, "call to action" statements, articles, product descriptions, testimonials, outgoing links, (and blog entries,) to name a few.

So what is "good" content? Good content provides value to your visitors and keeps them coming back, and often times gets your site recommended to their friends.

What qualifies as good content varies according to the focus of your site. Instructions to build a deck might be appropriate for a building contractor who remodels homes, or a garden site selling trees and shrubs, but wouldn't be a good fit for a site on breeding horses for profit.

In fact, it might be easier to determine what good content is by looking at what it is not:

Pages with hundreds of unorganized outgoing links.
Pages created with a software program boasting high densities of key words (and low readability).
Pages that simulate search results for a given keyword or phrase.
Multiple pages of nearly identical content to increase the size of your website.

You should be seeing a pattern here.

Pages that are created solely to impress search engines aren't likely to qualify as good content. (They're not likely to impress the search engines, either.)

How do you know if the page you want to put up is good content? Ask yourself if you would like to land there following a search, and be brutally honest.

If the answer is "No," the page doesn't belong on your web site.

Linking Strategies: Your Resource Page.

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Wed, 08 Jun 2005 04:37:00 +0000

When you provide good information, you give people a reason to visit your site, and you give other sites a reason to link to yours.

When you provide a good resource, you give your visitors a reason to bookmark your page and come back from time to time. And the more often a person visits your web site, the more likely they will become a client, customer or subscriber.

Create an invaluable resource area of outgoing links by keeping it focused directly and indirectly on your industry.

For example, if you build or remodel homes, linking to local plumbers, electricians, roofers and landscapers provides a valuable resource to folks in your local area. If you sell fly fishing gear online, you can link to resorts, guides and organizations worldwide where fly fishing is featured.

Qualify sites you link to with the same high standards discussed in previous "Linking Strategies" entries. Build your resource pages for your visitors, but keep in mind both your visitors and the search engines will judge you based on the quality of the sites you link to.

Your visitors see each outgoing link as a recommendation from you. What they find on the other end will reflect on you. They may not think better of you if the site you've linked to is professional, well thought out, and full of good information. But they will definitely think less of you if isn't.

Linking Strategies: Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Tue, 07 Jun 2005 01:31:00 +0000

Now that you've completed your first request for a link to your site, it's time to repeat the steps:

Find sites that are related or complimentary to your industry.
Verify the sites are in good standing with Google (and other major search engines.)
Request a link.

Building incoming links to your web site is an ongoing process.

And it's a learning process. The more you do it, the easier it gets. As you become more comfortable with submitting requests, you'll also find it takes less time to qualify prospective web sites.

In all, however, you should only spend a few hours each week on building incoming links by this method. It isn't necessary to work at it all day, every day. And requesting links is just the beginning.

Outgoing links are important, too, and the subject of tomorrow's post.

Linking Strategies: Add URL.

noreply@blogger.com (Anita) — Fri, 03 Jun 2005 16:24:00 +0000

We've focused on sites that have submission forms as these links are the easiest to request. It won't take you very long to fill it out, and everything they need from you is asked for in the form.

Some sites will require a reciprocal link. Others will give your site a more prominent placement in the category if you link back to them, but don't require it.

This early in your linking strategy, a one-way incoming link may be more valuable to you than a reciprocal link, even if the latter puts you higher in the category. Keep that in mind when you make your decision. As you build your incoming links, you want a balance of reciprocal and one way links.

Most submission forms ask you to provide a site title, and description. If it's allowed, consider using a key phrase here rather than your company name or the site's official title. Most sites will require your company/site name here, so you won't have the opportunity to use key phrases very often.

Using your "swipe file" select and copy a description that fits their length criteria, then paste it into the form. If you need to modify an existing description to fit the form, be sure and save the new description to your "swipe file".

Requested information varies between sites. Some only require your URL (http://www.domain.tld/) and pull the information from your title and description meta tags. Others require your name and email address. You may be required to establish a username and password, with an account that let's you make changes to your listing. You may also have the opprtunity to enter a list of your keywords. If a reciprocal link is required, you will have to include the URL of the page their link is on.

Once you have entered all the information, just click the submit button. (or "Add my site" link, etc.)

Some submissions will become active immediately. Most will take up to 72 hours as the site admin will actually visit your site to decide if they want to link to you. If you must go through an approval process, you should receive an email within a couple of days letting you know if your site was approved or declined.

Congratulations! You've just completed the first of many link requests.